Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach
1685–1750
14,715 works in the index
- Era
- Baroque
- Nationality
- Saxe-Eisenach
- Born in
- Eisenach
Bach wrote more music that ordinary players actually use than any other composer, which is why this catalogue holds over 17,000 entries under his name. He spent his career as a working church and court musician, producing to deadline, and almost none of it was published in his lifetime.
For keyboard players the entry points are the Notebook for Anna Magdalena and the Little Preludes, both genuinely playable within a few years of starting. The Two-Part Inventions come next, then the Well-Tempered Clavier, which is a lifetime's work rather than a stage to pass through. String players meet him through the solo suites and partitas; singers and choirs through the cantatas, Passions and the B minor Mass.
Editions matter here more than for most composers. Bach notated sparingly — little dynamic marking, inconsistent articulation, ornaments left to convention — so every edition is an interpretation. A nineteenth-century performing edition, which is what most free scans are, will hand you a fully marked page reflecting a style of playing that has since been substantially revised. For anything you intend to perform, a modern urtext is worth the outlay.
Catalogue
Works page 1 of 307
Toccata und Fuge d-Moll, BWV 565: II. Fuge
Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria
Suite in E minor, BWV 996: V. Bourrée
Kantate, BWV 147 "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben": Teil II, X. Choral "Jesus bleibet meine Freude"
Orchestersuite Nr. 3 D-Dur, BWV 1068: II. Air
The Well-Tempered Clavier
Englische Suite Nr. 3 g-Moll, BWV 808: VI. Gavotte II ou la Musette - Gavotte I da capo
Johannes-Passion, BWV 245
Suite für Violoncello solo no. 3 C-Dur, BWV 1009
Toccata und Fuge d-Moll, BWV 565: I. Toccata
Minuet
Orchestersuite Nr. 2 h-Moll, BWV 1067: VII. Badinerie
Kantate, BWV 208 "Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!": IX. Aria (Sopran II) "Schafe können sicher weiden"
The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Prelude and Fugue no. 1 in C major, BWV 846: Prelude
Arioso
Wachet auf, BWV 645
Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C major, BWV 564: II. Adagio
Bach: The Well
Flute Sonata in E-flat major, BWV 1031: II. Siciliano
Polonaise
Prelude (Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, #9)
Bach: Two and Three
Menuet
Sarabande
Minuet in G Major
Allegro (From Organ Sonata In E Flat)
Bach: Notebook for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
h-Moll-Messe, BWV 232
Minuet In G
Bist Du Bei Mir, Geh Ich Mit Freuden
The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Prelude and Fugue no. 2 in C minor, BWV 847: Fugue
March
Toccata und Fuge d-Moll, BWV 565
Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: I. Contrapunctus 1
Bach: Organbook (Orgelbuchlein)
Bach: Three
Sarabande(5th Eng.Suite) Bach
Bach: Complete Organ Works, Volume VII
Inventio Nr. 8 F-Dur, BWV 779
Menuet (1st Part.) Bach
Bach: Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Sleepers, Awake from Cantata No. 140 (Easy)
Bach: Complete Organ Works, Volume VI
(for Lute or Keyboard; arranged from Violin Partita No. 3, BWV 1006)
Bach: Various Works (Volume I)
Choralsatz, BWV 368 "In dulci jubilo"
Courante
Prelude, from Suite No. 1 In G Major
Dates, era and nationality from Wikidata, matched on name and verified against any dates already held here. The biography above is our own. Portrait: Elias Gottlob Haussmann, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.